Precambrian - Tectonics (2020) Review

This is the second time it's happening. Back in the middle of 2019, one day I decided to re-listen to Wintewolf's debut Cycle of the Werewolf (which was also my first vinyl purchase) and at the end of that post, I was wondering about the future of this project, if there was any. Soon afterwards, they surprise released a second full length (review here), which had me scratching my head as if it was a joke then. Fast forward to this year's May, I also re-listened to Precambrian's discography up to date, the two EPs they released in 2014 and 2016, through the 2019 compilation that contained them. In my thoughts, this compilation was more of a concluding mark for the band, but little did I know that they were about to start on fresh, with not an EP, but an actual full length this time. 

When the album's single Cryogenian was released some time ago, I didn't believe my eyes that another side-project I was very much into and recently wrote a post about, spawned a full length unexpectedly. Tectonics is barely half an hour long, it contains five new tracks from the band, which has chosen the stripped down, straightforward and combative approach they have been following since day one. Thematics revolving around climatology and geology, thick sound and often incredibly heavy tunes is what characterizes Precambrian, unlike their members' other projects that tend to infuse a lot of melancholy and melody in their music. Though you will not find that kind of atmosphere here, with Tectonics there are some concealed, well placed melodic parts in the songs, that turn events into more epic directions.

For those new to Precambrian, prepare to be met with material that is dense and hostile, where the tools are simple: potent repetitive riffing, hard hitting drums and above all, monstrous growls and screams. The vocals take the record to a different dimension (the singer's growls have been a long time favorite of mine) and make the already impressive, minimalist structures of the compositions even stronger. Moments in "Fossilization", "Archaebacteria" or "Cryogenian" feel like a bulldozer, in a way that is almost rare to find in black metal nowadays. Precambrian have not chosen a color outside black - grey - white - black yet, they don't talk about the typical uninteresting subjects you are used to and above all, are talented in what they do.

"Volcanic Winter", a rather interesting phenomenon on its own, is also a highlight track. Traces of the aforementioned melody are present, along with some of the most monotonous parts of the album, and it works great. One will notice how abruptly tracks get cut when they end, as if there was a continuation that is not in the final mix, a choice that I sense was done consciously and aims to not have a comfortable flow. In normal conditions I would be alienated by this, but Precambrian is not the project that aims for anything different than what they offer. Since this project is very specific musically, I don't know how they want to continue with it but a synth based album, Ildjarn style, would be interesting to hear.

Once you've taken a course in Hate Forest's albums, the next step would naturally be to check and invest into this rather quiet an unknown side project from the universe of Drudkh. Not many bands sound like them and there is nothing friendly in this album, in a sense its release was a very satisfying event for me and another secret wish I had came true. By all means a release that is worth your time, especially if you are into underground extreme metal and you're looking for elements that have been coming and going the recent years during the musical expansion of the genre. Precambrian creates its own thick layer, with hardly any outliers. And for that reason, Tectonics can be assimilated and appreciated as it should. 

August 21st, 2020 | Primitive Reaction

Listen to Tectonics:

Precambrian - Glaciology (Comp, 2019) Review

By listening to Precambrian for the first time, one would be correct to relate them musically to Drudkh and that's not by accident, since it is a essentially a side project by the same members: Krechet, Vlad and Roman. While all the side projects of these musicians are fairly interesting, I've always had Precambrian as an even more isolated case in an already isolated environment. This fellowship of bands remains as private as possible and whatever we know of them is only communicated through their music. 

Glaciology is not technically an album but a compilation of the band's first two (and only) EPs, 2014's Proarkhe and 2016's Aeon. However, the first three tracks in this release are new recordings that were meant for a third EP, which was then converted to this full compilation that basically includes all the material under the Precambrian moniker. What draws the attention is the heavy thematic inclination towards geology, paleoclimatology and the study around the nature of snow, which is usually very superficially touched in black metal, but this time it's possible that these guys did some actual research on these subjects.

There are no lyrics available so I imagine whatever I can from the titles only, which are still giving up a lot of hints on the band's inspiration. And while I have university education in this area, I am wondering if Roman also has done something similar, or they spent time researching online about these terms. The track list of Glaciology goes as follows:

1. Voice of Snow

2. Cryolithozone

3. Firn

4. Basalt

5. Lava

6. Permafrost

7. Sulphur

Just for the sake of knowledge, we can break down some of the words we see, starting from the band name and compilation title:

Precambrian refers to a vast period of time of the age of the Earth, namely starting from its formation and almost reaching the era when the first multicellular organisms started appearing on the planet, which is called the Cambrian era. Precambrian takes up a huge percentage of the Earth's lifetime and is still not strictly defined, but you can think that our planet is ~4.5 billion years old, the Cambrian era started 570 million years ago, so the time span before that to year 0 is a time period so big that it's hard to comprehend. A series of profound events happened during the Precambrian era, that ultimately led to the formation of complex lifeforms on the Earth.

Glaciology is the study of glaciers (huge moving bodies of dense ice), and the band's decision to name this collection like that, makes me think they wanted to have a concluding release and close the Precambrian chapter. The tracks from all the three EPs are similar so a compilation is a reasonable wrap-up that also offers a consistent listening experience, but let's continue for a little bit. "Lava" and "Sulphur" are more popular terms, so:

• basalt is a common igneous rock (rock that forms from the solidification of lava / magma), 
• firn is a type of granullar snow, it looks like sugar but it's quite dense and it's found at the heads of glaciers, 
• permafrost has to do with places that remain constantly frozen for more than two years, most commonly in the poles of the Earth
• cryolithozone is another way of describing permafrost, yet the two terms are not completely the same (nevermind the details for this). The word can be broken down to: cryo (=cold), litho (=rock), zone

I'm sure you were hot into geology before, and you are even more into it now. Returning to the topic of the music in Glaciology, if you have ever heard of Drudkh or like minded bands then you will not be caught off guard by this. The guitars are thick and slay hefty, repetitive riffs, the dusty production is pompous and the vocals are quite harsh and on point, this time not following the recipe of deep growling like it has been done in Blood of Kingu or Hate Forest. "Cryolithozone" is a mammoth, 14 minute track that features slight noise / ambient in different parts, something that was also used in the track "Firn", yet other than a handful of changes like this, the compilation remains an aggressive and monotonous cacophony that reflects on an even more straightforward side of the band members. I guess they needed a separate project entity for this musical subject, before moving on to more romantic patterns with Windswept. The compilation was released in June 2019 by Primitive Reaction, and it's a must for the fans of anything Drudkh-related.

Listen to Glaciology: